Reading the Harry Potter Books
by hedwig-rules502
Summary: The Harry Potter gang read the Harry Potter books to change the future of the wizading world. Hopefully for the better, maybe for the worse.
1. Chapter 1

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in their favourite chairs in the Gryffindor common room when it happened. There was a loud CRACK and an explosion of blue mist engulfed the engulfed the golden trio.

In the middle of an order meeting, the same thing happened to Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Molly, Arthur, Charlie and Bill Weasley, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore.

Ginny Weasley was in the library doing Potions homework when she was also swept up by a ton of mist. A few metres away Draco Malfoy sat watching in awe at what had just happened to the youngest Weasel, he didn't even notice that some of the mist had wrapped around him.

Fred and George were planning a prank in an empty classroom when it happened to them.

In 1976 the Marauders (save Peter) and **Severus** were sitting in detention with Professor **McGonagall** carefully watching over them. Suddenly, the same phenomenon happened to the four teens as the rest.

Lily was in her dormitory reading her Transfiguration book when it happened to her.

That is how 21 people (three of them being there twice) ended up in the room of requirement stuck in a single second. Sirius and Remus took one look at James Potter before they ran at him, giving him a bone crushing hug. Everyone in the room looked at them like they were mad then broke into laughter (yes, even Snivellus).

Harry looked around the room, there were twenty-one beanbag chairs and a coffee table, there was a stack of seven books on the coffee table and a letter lying next to them. Snape snatched the letter up before he could move towards it he studied it then thrust it into Hermione's hands.

"_Dear Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Molly, Arthur, Charlie, Bill, Severus, Minerva, Albus, Ginny, Draco, Fred, George, James and Lily." _she began._ "These are the books of Harry Potter and his time at Hogwarts. You will be reading them to try sort out everything that went wrong. You have to promise not to kill anybody in or out of this room before the books are read. From H.J.W, H.J.P, R.B.W, D.L.M and G.M.P_"

"Who is H.J.W and G.M.P?" Ron asked.

"I'm just guessing" Remus said "but I think Hermione is going to marry Ron-"

"YES!" Harry shouted "Finally."

"And Ginny marries Harry." Sirius finished for Remus. Silence. The Weasley boys looked murderous.

Finally, Bill Spoke up "Harry, you better take care of her or trust me, we will murder you."

"I don't doubt you Bill." Harry stuttered out. He looked over at Ginny who was being talked to by Fred and George looking very nervous.

"How about we start on those books." Albus said. "I'll read the first chapter."

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (unfortunately).**___


	2. Chapter 2

**Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone**

Dumbledore began.

** CHAPTER ONE**

**THE BOY WHO LIVED**

"Why is it called that?" _Severus_ asked.

"Maybe if you let Dumbledore read it you would know." _Sirius_ snapped.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. **

"Your welcome" _Sirius_ and the Weasley twins said.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious,**

**because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made**

**drills.**

"What are drill." Everyone who had been brought up by wizards asked.

Hermione quickly explained.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did**

**have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had**

**nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as shespent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the**

**neighbors. **

"Sounds a lot like Tuney."

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their**

**opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"I can think of a few." Draco said.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister,**

"I mary James Potter?!" Lily yelled.

"Yes. I get Evans." James declared

**but they hadn't met for several years;**

**in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what?" Everyone except Snape, Snape, Harry and Draco asked the book angrily.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

"What is good-"

"-about being boring."

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"That's bad parenting." Molly said.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"How stupid can they get?" Bill asked.

"Very stupid." Harry answered.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs.**

**Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.**

"He encouraged that?"

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of**

**something peculiar - a cat reading a map.**

"Minnie." _Sirius_ and James exclaimed.

McGonagall glared at them.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.**

"Defiantly Minnie."

**As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people**

**about. People in cloaks.**

"What strange about cloaks?" Draco asked.

"Muggles don't usually wear cloaks." Charlie scoffed.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something...**

**yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the**

**ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate**

**on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swoop ing past in broad**

**daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed**

**open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. **

"Really nice isn't he." _Remus _said sarcastically.

**He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs **

"What?" Harry asked, shocked.

**and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"Now that makes sense."

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of**

**them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't**

**know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering**

**excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on**

**his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he**

**caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry"**

"That doesn't sound good." James muttered.

Everyone from the future silently agreed with him.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

"Really?"

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the**

**whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better**

**of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his**

**secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost**

**finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid.**

"No much change there then, is there?"

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"You don't ever know the name of your own nephew." Draco whispered so that nobody could hear him, though Ginny, who had been sitting next to him, could.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that**

"Like what?" Harry, _Remus_, Remus, _Sirius_, Sirius, _Severus _and James yelled angrily.

**... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and**

**when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that**

**he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted,**

"He knows how to say sorry!"

**as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It**

**was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a**

**violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the**

**ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in**

**a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir,**

**for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! **

The people from the past began to celebrate. Then they noticed the sad expressions on the people from the future.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"He could hug him?" The twins said in amazement.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete**

**stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that**

**was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping4**

**he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he**

**didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw -**

**and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that**

**morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the**

**same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour?**

"It is for Minnie." McGonagall glared at them, though deep inside she was happy to see the two together, even if it wouldn't last.

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all**

**about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had**

**learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"That's nice."

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When**

**Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to**

**catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's**

**owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally**

**hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been**

**hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since**

**sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly**

**changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain?**

**Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place?**

**And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"At least he has some sense." Albus said wisely.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was**

**no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat**

**nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister**

**lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all,**

**they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"Wouldn't want to talk to you anyway." Lily said bitterly. There were tears in the corner of her eyes.

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting**

**stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you**

**know... her crowd."**

"Crowd?!" Everyone except Albus and Minerva and Severus yelled.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered**

**whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he**

**didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son -**

**he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Better than Dudley Dursley." Lily snapped

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite**

**agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed.**

**While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the**

**Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of**

**- well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr.**

**Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting**

**thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were**

**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs.**

**Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over- it couldn't affect them...**

**How very wrong he was.**

"Now, that really doesn't sound good." _Remus_ said.

Everyone from the future nodded slightly.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat**

**on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as**

**still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of**

**Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so**

**suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the**

**ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall,**

**thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which**

**were both long enough to tuck into his belt. **

"Dumbledore!" _Remus_,_ Sirius_, James, Fred and George exclaimed.

**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Told you."

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a**

**street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"So it is Minnie."_Sirius_

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and**

**clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"Cool!"

**He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer**

"It's called a diluminator."

**back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"Told you."

"Padfoot, we never doubted you." _Remus_ said

"Padfoot?!" The twins asked Albus continued to read before it could be explained.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling**

**at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I 've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said**

**Professor McGonagall.**

"All day?" The people from the past said in amazement.

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.**

**"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles**

**have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. **

"They aren't?" Draco asked.

**They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"But he is fun."

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"That's a long time." _Remus_ said.

"Yes it is." Remus proclaimed.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no**

**reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on**

**the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes,**

**swapping rumours."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day YouKnow-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

A Chuckle went through the young Gryffindors, who knew of Albus' love for sweets.

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't**

**think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if**

**You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him**

**by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I**

**have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name:**

**Voldemort."**

"It would make a lot more sense." Lily declared.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so**

**confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half**

**exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're**

**the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

"Stupid Gryffindor nobility." Draco muttered.

"Something wrong with being noble?" Ginny asked.

He quickly shook his head, he had seen what had happened to the last person that defied/annoyed Ginny Weasley. He did not want to be under the bat bogey hex.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey**

**told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

The younger of the group looked disgusted.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumours that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

"Don't keep us in anticipation." James said, sitting on the edge of his seat.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed**

**Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort**

**turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "**

"No!" Sirius and Remus said jumping to their feet.

"They cant be dead its wrong, their too young." Remus continued. Lily let out a sob, James moved to console her. he put her arms around his future wife and held her tightly.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it...**

**Oh, Albus..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I**

**know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all.**

**They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

"He tried to kill a baby." James said, outraged. "I knew he was heartless but I didn't think he was that bad."

**But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone.**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"How did that happen?" Draco asked.

"Didn't your father tell you, he is a Death Eater."

"Ronald Billius Weasley, how dare you." Molly scolded.

"Just because my father is a Death Eater it doesn't mean he talks to me about it. I wouldn't want him to. Never going to join Voldemort."

A few people in the room winced at the name. Albus' eyes twinkled, thankful that they had Draco partly on their side.

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's**

**done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy?**

**It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the**

**name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"You always know." Harry mumbled. "Just never say."

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

"I never understood how that worked." Severus said, looking thoughtful.

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle.**

"You cant do that." _Sirius_ exclaimed. "What about me, Remus or Peter."

"Sirius I think my fury little problem may get in that way."

"And there is a reason why the other two are unable to look after me." Harry said. "Remus, just so you know, we all know about you being a werewolf."

Everyone from the future turned to glare at Severus, except Severus, obviously.

**They're the only family he has left now."**

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried**

**Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.**

**"Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and**

**uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've**

**written them a letter."**

"A letter?"

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a**

**legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his**

**half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **

"That does make some sense." Charlie declared.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"He better not be." Lily said.

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as**

**this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life." Everyone from Gryffindor announced. The three Slytherins silently agreed but would never admit to it.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor**

**McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew**

**steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a11 headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Cool." _Sirius _said.

A few people from the future chuckled.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride**

**it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times**

**as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long**

**tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were**

**like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle**

**of blankets.**

The girls, except Ginny, cooed.

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing**

**carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to**

**me.**

"It's my motorcycle."

Remus moved over to his other best friend.

"So that's what your parents got him for his birthday." He whispered, James nodded.

**I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right**

**before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was**

**flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a**

**tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously**

**shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Harry absentmindedly touched his scar.

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. **

"Seriously?" Arthur said to himself.

Albus smiled broadly.

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"Hey." _Sirius_ and Sirius wined**. **

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or**

**we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"So it is possible."

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying**

**here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his**

**bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

"I never did get that bike back."

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself**

**onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose**

**into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore,**

**nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he**

**stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and**

**twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet**

**Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and**

**tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect**

**astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his**

**blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside**

**him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was**

**famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs.**

**Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk**

**bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and**

**pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very**

**moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up**

**their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy**

**who lived!"**


End file.
